MPs' expenses: 50 Labour MPs will stand down, predicts Paul Kenny

Paul Kenny, a key Labour backer, expects at least 50 of its MPs to stand down
at the next election in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Paul Kenny, a key Labour backer, expects at least 50 of its MPs to stand down at the next election Photo: JANE MINGAY

By Andrew Porter, Political Editor

10:00AM BST 28 May 2009

His comments came as Labour’s “star chamber” panel, which will decide which MPs caught up in the expenses scandal should still fight the next election, met for the first time. The meeting broke up after failing to reach any conclusions about which MPs should be sanctioned.

In a significant intervention, Mr Kenny, the general secretary of the GMB union, said he would be “shocked” if at least 50 Labour MPs were not forced to stand down. And he told the Prime Minister that there must be a full examination of all Labour MPs to flush out those who had “made money”.

He said: “You can’t have one rule for backbenchers and another for people who are the political elite of government.

“Where people have used the system to profit themselves, whether that be through excessive claims for personal items or through making vast amounts through 'flipping’ their second and third homes, it is clear that all of those people are going to have to be subject to intense scrutiny by the Labour Party.”

Mr Kenny said MPs had a “good life” and if they could not subsist on the pay, “they should try living on the minimum wage”.

Gordon Brown has been accused of failing to discipline Cabinet ministers such as Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, who have been forced to pay back capital gains tax they avoided paying by designating properties as their second home.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that he would “deal with” those MPs who had abused the system.

The GMB is a key donor to the Labour party and has members on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee. Mr Kenny’s views will be taken seriously in Downing Street. His comments came as members of the NEC met for the first time to discuss possible action against those MPs who could face de-selection after being exposed by The Daily Telegraph.

However, Elliot Morley, the former minister who claimed £16,000 for a mortgage that had already been paid off, and Margaret Moran, the Luton MP who claimed £22,500 to treat dry rot at a home that was not in her constituency or London, did not appear in person in front of the “star chamber”.

Instead, Labour officials met behind closed doors to make an initial examination of the cases. As well as Mr Morley and Miss Moran, they will have looked at the case of Ian Gibson, the Norwich MP, who allowed his daughter to buy his taxpayer-funded flat in west London for a knock-down price, and David Chaytor, the Bury MP, who claimed for a mortgage that had already been paid off.

After the meeting, a Labour spokesman said: “All members of the panel agreed on the need for rapid and urgent action to reassure the public and Labour Party members, but the panel is also clear that all its investigations must be conducted in a fair and equitable manner.”

Labour’s failure to sanction MPs who have abused the system was last night seized upon by the Conservatives, who compared Mr Brown’s “dithering” with David Cameron’s insistence that Tories who have claimed outside the accepted norms stand down.

But Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, refused to accept that Mr Brown had been slow to react. He said: “The fact that the Prime Minister has taken a very firm line has been very important.”

Mr Brown, at a Labour conference in the North East, said: “We are going to clean up the political system. We are never again going to have a situation where MPs are put in this position, where they sign their own expenses and have to do it all on their own and getting into mistakes which then have to be corrected.

“Any MPs that misbehave will be dealt with.

“Any MP that cannot stand at the next election because of what they have done, we will take the action that is necessary.”